*** Apologies if you have received this Announcement more than once *** 2nd Announcement 2nd Mini EURO Conference on Variable Neighborhood Search MEC-VNS 2012 4-7 October 2012. Herceg Novi, Montenegro. http://www.mi.sanu.ac.rs/~vnsconference2012 Organization * Honorary Chair of the Conference: Pierre Hansen, GERAD and HEC Montreal, Canada. * Conference Chairs: Nenad Mladenovic, Brunel, UK and JUPIM, Serbia; José A. Moreno Pérez, University of La Laguna, Spain. * Program Committee Chairs: Emilio Carrizosa, University of Seville, Spain; Belén Melián Batista, University of La Laguna, Spain * Organizing Committee Chair: Dragan Urosevic, Mathematical Institute SASA, Beograd * Secretary: Sanja Roksandic, Mathematical Institute, SASA, Beograd Scope and Objectives The 2nd Mini EURO Conference dedicated to Variable Neighborhood Search (MEC-VNS) will be held in Herceg Novi (Montenegro) October 4-7, 2012. The Mini EURO Conferences (MEC) constitute one of the instruments provided by EURO (the Association of European Operational Research societies) to promote the research in its field of interest. Each MEC is an specialized conference focusing a particular promising OR theme of research. These events are organized to allow specialists and practitioners of the selected topic of research to effectively screen papers participate in lively debates.VNS is a metaheuristic based on systematic changes in the neighbour-rhood structure within a search, for solving optimization problems and related tasks. The main goal of the 2nd MEC-VNS is to provide a stimulating environment in which researchers coming from various scientific fields can share and discuss their knowledge, expertise and ideas related to the VNS Metaheuristic and its applications. Submissions The submission of papers ends on June 12, 2012. The accepted papers will be edited in conference proceedings in CD-ROM with its corresponding ISBN. A booklet with extended abstracts (4 pages) will also be provided to the participants. The official language of the conference is English. Publication In agreement with the Editors of the Journal of Global Optimization (JOGO) and the Editors of IMA Journal of Management Mathematics (IMA-MAN) and the Editors of Yugoslav Journal of Operations Research (YUJOR), authors present at MEC VNS 2011 will be invited to submit full versions of their papers to be published on a Special Issues of JOGO or IMA-MAN or YUJOR on the theme of the conference. Organizers are trying to get one more special issue of the journal from the SCI list. Note that for the 1st MEC-VNS, three special issues with papers presented at the conference were published (EJOR, JOH and IMA-MAN). Plenary speakers. Panos M. Pardalos, University of Florida, USA. Richard F. Hartl, University of Vienna, Austria. Celso C. Ribeiro, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Brasil. Venue The conference will be held at the Pla.a hotel in Herceg Novi, Montenegro. Tivat (20km away) and Dubrovnik (25km away) are two international airports connecting Herceg Novi with worldwide cities by air traffic. From Dubrovnik and Tivat airports, Herceg Novi is easily access-ible by taxi cab and by regular buses. Registration fee Normal Student Before August 1, 2012 280 EUR. 100 EUR. After August 1, 2012 330 EUR. 150 EUR. with the notice for the authors who wish their papers to be published in the Proceedings, the payment deadline is August 25, 2012. The registration fee includes conference Proceedings, extended abstract booklet and documentation, lunches, coffee breaks and social program (gala dinner and excursion to Dubrovnik). To qualify as a student, the delegate must present a student card. Support from EURO may be granted to seven delegates from Eastern European countries and support from SEIO may be granted to some of its Ph.D. students. The PhD students of the Faculty of Organizational sciences (FOS), University of Belgrade will have free access to the conference and will receive the documentation. Important dates May 01, 2012 Participant registration June 12, 2012 Paper submission July 03, 2012 Acceptance notice September 04, 2012 Preliminary program schedule notice October 04 - 07, 2012 Conference Program Committee Chairs: Emilio Carrizosa, Belén Melián Batista Secretary: Raca Todosijevic Members: Aloise, Daniel, GERAD, Montreal, Canada. Alvarez, Ada, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, México. Beasley John, Brunel, United Kingdom. Braysy, Olli, SINTEF Oslo, Norway. Brimberg, Jack, Royal Military College, Kingston, Canada. Caporossi, Gilles, HEC Montreal, Canada. Carrizosa, Emilio, University of Sevilla, Spain. Crainic, Teodor G., University of Quebec, Montreal, Canada. Cvetkovic, Dragos, Mathematical institute SASA, Serbia. Doerner, Karl, Institute of Management Science, Vienna, Austria. Duarte, Abraham, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Spain. Eremeev, Anton, Omsk State University, Russia. Escudero, Laureano, Universidad Miguel Hernández, Spain. Gendreau, Michel, École Polytechnique de Montréal, Canada. Gonzales-Velarde, Jose Luis, Centro de Manufactura y Calidad, Tecnológico de Monterrey, México. Hanafi, Saďd, University of Valenciennes, France. Hansen, Pierre, GERAD, Montreal, Canada. Hartl, Richard, Institute of Management Science, Vienna, Austria. Kochetov, Yuri, Novosibirsk, Russia. Kovacevic-Vujcic, Vera, University of Belgrade, Serbia. Labbé, Martine, Free university of Brussels, Belgium. Liberti, Leo, LIX Ecole Polytechnique, Paris, France. Melián Batista, Belén, University La Laguna, Spain. Moreno-Perez José A., University of La Laguna, Spain. Moreno, Vega Marcos J, University La Laguna, Spain. Pacheco, Joaquín Antonio, University of Burgos, Spain. Pérez-Brito, Dionisio, Universidad de La Laguna, Spain. Puerto, Justo, University of Seville, Spain. Raidl, Güinter, Vienna University of Technology, Austria. Ribeiro, Celso, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Salhi, Said, University of Kent, United Kingdom. Sevaux, Marc, University of Southern Brittany, France. Sörensen, Kenneth, University of Antwerp, Belgium. Stützle, Thomas, TU Darmstadt, Germany. Urosevic, Dragan, Mathematical Institute SASA, Belgrade, Serbia. Zhao, Qiuhong, Bejing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, China. Organizing Committee: Chair: Dragan Urosevic, Mathematical Institute SASA (MI-SASA); Co-chair: José A. Moreno Pérez, University La Laguna, Spain. Secretary: Gordana Nastic, Mathematical Institute SASA. Members: I Grujicic, FOS, University of Belgrade; S Roksandic, M Milinkovic, R Todosijevic - Mathematical Institute SASA, Belgrade, N Mladenovic, JUPIM, Belgrade, J Moreno Perez, J. Marcos Moreno Vega, J Brito Santana, University of La Laguna. Contact: Dragan Urosevic. MEC-VNS 2012 Mathematical Institute SASA. Kneza Mihaila 36 11001 Beograd, p.p. 367 Serbia vnsconference2012@mi.sanu.ac.rs Web page: http://www.mi.sanu.ac.rs/~vnsconference2012